Peter Schaufuss stages Sir Frederick Ashton's "Romeo and Juliet," with Ivan Vasiliev and Natalia Osipova, July 11-17, 2011 at the London Coliseum. Laura Thompson previews the performances in The Telegraph.

This is apparently a very scaled down version of Ashton's ballet and looking at the swathes of seats still unsold on the Coliseum website the prospect of this pairing isn't exactly wowing the punters. I intend to see this production next week though, as Natalia Osipova is very much the big star of the future and astonishing both technically and emotionally in every role she undertakes so I’m looking forward to seeing her Juliet very much.

By the way it seems the Telegraph's critic has a short memory as both Yuri Vladimirov and Yuri Soloviev had a higher jump than Ivan Vasiliev as did Nureyev on a good day.

Frederick Ashton’s version of Romeo & Juliet has a patchy performing history in Britain; originally created for the Royal Danish Ballet, most will only have seen it during the Peter Schaufuss directorship of Festival Ballet (now ENB). It is probably the full scale Ashton ballet that I know least well, so not so easy to point out the changes that had undoubtedly been made throughout much of the work; the major clue to cuts is the running time with the evening coming to an end well before ten. Prokofiev wrote an awful lot of music for this ballet, much of which is seldom used but I imagine the music for the Dance of the Knights, possible the most familiar passage of the ballet, will have been missed by many. The sets pose a problem with strips of purple light at the sides and a background of Italianate projections, some apt and others less so. This pared down approach is no doubt an excellent idea for touring though perhaps inappropriate for the substantially sized stage of the London Coliseum

If I had reservations about the settings, I had none about the dancers with the cast being led by the stellar Natalia Osipova, a dancer who illuminates every role she attempts. She danced Juliet as if by instinct and her very realistic approach to the role put her firmly in the Lynn Seymour mould of interpretation. She wasn’t a starry-eyed dreamer, more a headstrong teenager fuelled by hormones and a need to carve out her own destiny. I had fears that her partner, Ivan Vasiliev, would prove less than perfect as Romeo and I was right, as the romantic nature of Romeo was missing from his characterization, though to be fair the bursts of ardour in the duets were convincing, however some passages of the choreography showed up some deficiencies of technique with much of the footwork proving too intricate for him. Mercutio was danced by Alban Lendorf of the Royal Danish Ballet, a dancer for whom no footwork will ever be too difficult and from my point of view he came close to stealing the show – what a star!

The first night gala had guest stars galore in the shape of a number of dance veterans boosting the cast, with a still agile Wayne Sleep as Peter the page, Wayne Eagling as the Prince of Verona and Marguerite Porter (who appears to be defying the aging process) and Stephen Jefferies as the Capulet parents. According to the glossy £10 programme, Lynn Seymour and David Wall were to have played the opposing Montagues, though both were no-shows with a surprise appearance of perennially handsome Donald McLeary as the sole Montague parent instead. Beryl Grey opened the proceedings with an introductory speech that seemed to excuse the cut back production by claiming that it was created for the confines of the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. True, that theatre is smaller than the Coliseum, but it is still a fairly standard size for most European houses. After all you need a lot of space for Bournonville. Ms Grey also mentioned how Peter Schaufuss had first danced in London at the age of twenty, and I remember him so clearly from those days: utterly gorgeous and cute beyond belief. He was a major adornment of the UK ballet scene for many years and I derived great pleasure from seeing him in the role of Friar Lawrence on opening night as his transition from premiere danseur to character dancer reflects the traditions of the Danish Ballet where older dancers bring their stagecraft and experience to those crucial roles where acting is all important. Friar Lawrences in general tend to plod around the stage looking grave, but Schaufuss turned the Friar into a far more complex and engaging character with a keen awareness of all the implications of the doomed love affair he was called upon to preside over.

The evening opened and closed with a huge portrait of Frederick Ashton centre stage and for all the changes this production has undergone, the hand of the master stills shines through.

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